


Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine

by flynnesse



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Christmas Presents, Fluff, Gen, Mistletoe, Snowball Fight, Some More So Than Others, Tango Tek-centric, The main characters are Tango Impulse Zed, Wholesomeness, also tango's skin is adorable, demon impulse, etho probably killed impulse and the party, everyone else makes an appearance - Freeform, everyone gets drunk, he gets the imposter win with doc, impulse gets assaulted by his friends the fic, nothin like waking your friend up at 9AM and then paying for it for the rest of the day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flynnesse/pseuds/flynnesse
Summary: The server wants to thank Tango for his services in all the seasons and make Impulse go wake him up at an ungodly time (to Tango, 9 AM is early when you want to lie in) and it all goes uphill and downhill from there.My Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday gift for you all.
Relationships: Everyone & Everyone, No Romantic Relationship(s), can be interpreted as romantic - Relationship, just a big chaotic happy family
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted to write something seasonal related but then went into several writing comas and looked up to find almost 8K words on the screen and 17 pages later here we are. There may not be an update on "I would have stayed up all night" on the 29th as I've worked all my creative juices on written and drawing content.
> 
> Here's my xmas gift to you guys hope you have a good day <3

“TANGO GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED! IT'S SNOWING!” 

Tango wasn’t expecting to find Impulse hammering on his bedroom yelling at 9 AM like someone had been murdered, in all fairness it didn’t count as early in the day anymore but it still felt like it until he had about five cups of coffee and enough slaps in the face to stir him. But he was barely on one and barely functional for this, hell he didn’t even have his clothes on and the shouting grew louder.

“YOU LOVE SNOW COME ONN!” The brunette was chelping at the top of his lungs as if that was a valid excuse for him being in his tower at a stupid time. Well, it was out of character for Impulse but a fair enough reason.

“HOLD ON IMPY.” He responded, his voice hoarse and worn as he pulled on his crimson plaid bottoms and a t-shirt with his silly Christmas jumper with the little tree over the top. He didn’t even have his LED’s on! The blond cracked a wide grin as he heard a loud groan from the other side of the door, he could just tell that Impulse was rolling his eyes and shaking his head exasperatedly.

Tango fell into a fit of giggles as Impulse yelled back with an annoyed but amused “SHUT UP!”

“Let me get my clothes on for the love of everything holy Impulse!”

“I have no love for the holy! I’m a demon!” Impulse laughed but at least he had quieted down for a minute which let Tango pull on his Christmas socks and his black vest over his jumper. He sorted out his headband and tried to sort his bedraggled blond hair with a hand through his locks for it to fall exactly how it had been previously. Tango just shrugged and pulled on his bunny slippers and grabbed his black fingerless gloves and a red scarf.

“You better not be joking about the snow.” The blond commented as he opened the door once he navigated his messy room and looked to find Impulse stood looking festive for once in his life.

“I am not! Why would I lie about that?” He asked innocently, a sly small smile on his face as he raised an eyebrow partially. Impulse was wearing a disastrous jumper that was black and yellow - well they called them ugly sweaters for a reason, Impulse’s just was evidence of that reason - “at least I wouldn’t lose him” was Tango’s only comment as he laughed. It definitely looked like one of Zed’s creations.

“Not like you to get into the festive spirit this much!” He had a dorky Christmas hat on his head, just a standard red and white one but he did at least have a yellow scarf and some layers on. Yet he still was wearing shorts and his trainers but he could see Christmas socks on, yet they were mismatched. Big sprawling wings were painted hastily to have snowflakes on but Tango could only assume what was supposed to be on them as the leathery membrane was creased over as his wings were folded. He held a hat in his hands and by the massive antlers sticking out he could only assume it was his own.

“Well I thought to give it a try this year, be all merry and cheerful like you keep trying to make me be every year.” Impulse laughed lightheartedly as he threw the hat at his face. “You got your elytra?”

“So you admit defeat? And yes, of course.” Tango replied as he pulled it on. “Why?” Tightening the clasps and straps so it fit as he pulled out his rockets and looked up to meet Impulse’s eyes.

“Uhh no reason.” Very inconspicuous Impulse, you absolute buffoon. “Now come on we got places to be!” He averted his gaze for a second before reaching out for Tango’s hand to pull him to the portal as he stumbled after him.

“Hey man! Calm down! It’s just snow.” He never saw Impulse get so ecstatic, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes that Tango just caught before he faced away from him, showing the black I between his shoulder blades and the muscles of his large wings.

“Yeah, but- but it- but it might melt.” Impulse seemed to be uncertain and his voice wavered enough in pitch for him to be telling the truth but he knew Impulse stumbled on his words when he got excited. He just was curious what the hell he had done.

“In December?” Tango asked to wind him up.

“Yes!” He outburst sheepishly as he hauled Tango into the portal wherever he liked it or not. His grasp firm and strong, at least reassuring when it slipped away as they were separated by the magic of the portal until he grabbed him again and pulled him through the heat of the Nether.

Their laughter licked the walls, echoing around as it bounced and hit them in the face as their feet pounded on the soft brimstone rocks. Impulse bounded further and further, his footfalls heavy as he looked back at Tango who was almost matching his gait. _Almost_ was a stretch. He wasn’t the fittest but that didn’t matter, he was fit enough to do what he did as a job, not to go crazy. His smile was infectious and it was nice to see his grin plastered on his face so easily and meeting his eyes for once, the corners crinkled enough that it looked like he was squinting and showed his dimples in the edge of his lips.

“Keeping up Tek?” Impulse scoffed as he slowed down his pace as he turned down a corridor. “Because I’m not carrying you!” His giggles rolled from his mouth easily as Tango couldn’t help to join in, albeit breathlessly.

  
“Somewhat.” He replied as he pushed himself to catch up while the demon had slowed down enough.

“Good cause we are almost there.” Tango looked up to see a purple flicker into sight at the end of the corridor before it steadily grew to encompass his whole vision.

Impulse didn’t hesitate for once second as he pulled him through, he didn’t realise who’s portal this was until the purple cleared and he was steady enough on his feet. His hand on his shoulder as he could feel his gaze on him as the brunette looked down at him. “Take a breather.” He ushered, voice soft and warm as he ruffled Tango’s messy hair.

The blond sighed and threw his hand off as he looked up, the large detailed builds and the scenery, the life and the atmosphere was coated in a thick blanket of powdery snow. This was Bdubs’ home. Well, more of a village. It looked beautiful, well more than it normally does which Tango didn’t think was possible, garlands were hung on the buildings. Thick with rosy holly and snowy mistletoe, pine needles adorned to the bundles as they were lined with snow. Several of the large fir trees were decorated with a multitude of baubles and tinsel, LEDs twinkling softly. Bdubs had gone all out and it really showed.

“It’s gorgeous isn’t it?” Impulse piped up with a smile as if he had something to do with it but it’s likely he did if his mischievous excitement was anything to go by. The amount of giddiness in his steps were concerning and Tango thought he was just looking at a brunette taller version of himself for a second.

“It is.” He agreed with a chuckle.

“I got something to show you! C’mon.” Impulse didn’t take no for an answer and held his hand out for Tango to take. The taller’s wings unfurled showing the snowflakes that were intricately painted into his wings.

Tango laughed with an “Okay okay! Calm down man!” as he reached for his hand and couldn’t stifle the scream that ripped from his lips as impulse just casually took to the air without a second of hesitation. Tango clung to him pretty tightly. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT WITHOUT WARNING ME-” He yelped as he just heard Impulse cackle.

“I haven’t dropped you yet!” He responded lightheartedly.

“There’s always a first!” He exclaimed in response as he finally looked down underneath them, glad that at least Impulse had stopped cackling at him and wrapped an arm around him so he wouldn’t fall.

Tango glanced down at the village below them, the smoke drifting from the chimneys lazily, horses were out in their field with wooly blankets on their backs to keep them warm, all with a big scarf around their necks that looked handknitted, at least from here. Either that was once again Zed’s doing or Bdubs’ he couldn’t tell from this height. The paths had been cleared with some kind of plow or shovelling and knowing someone he knew was obsessed with a certain “shovel shuffle” he had a certain guess who had done that. Snowdrops lined the paths where the dirt was uncovered and was in the flower boxes framing the glazed windows, the river was frozen over and he swore he could see something moving on the ice but they were too high up for him to make out details.

Tango’s gaze raised to the castle in front of them, the whole cliff face was coated in snow and so was the building that was settled atop of it, the raw amount of detail he could make out from here was shocking and pretty overwhelming. Every block blended in stunningly and still was incredibly intricate, a lot of care and attention went into this castle and it showed. No wonder it took Bdubs so long to finish it. He could just make out the blue spires as they met with the white dusky sky, cold snowflakes landing on their skin as Impulse opened his wings to glide down. It looked not even real, like it had been ripped straight out of a fairytale or a Bob Ross painting. With Bdubs’ talent that was pretty easy for him.

Impulse put him down first before landing with a stumble behind him, shaking the snow out of his hair with clawed fingers. He tried to get it out before it melted into his locks and would mess it up but Tango scoffed as he could already see stray strands poking in the wrong direction.

“Was this planned?” Tango asked and watched Impulse freeze as he looked up at him with a shrug.

“Maybe. I can’t say.” Then yes it was if the raise in pitch in his voice as the bashful smile was anything to go by, he nervously giggled as he walked towards the entrance of the walls and beckoned Tango to follow with a hand.

“So it’s snowing and we don’t even have a snowball fight?” Tango laughed.

“We can do that later! I was told- I’m supposed to show you something first.” Impulse said suspiciously as he walked over the drawbridge, the surface was slippy and Tango knew that there was no grip in Impulse’s trainers so that will be funny to watch when it inevitably happens.

There was a loud noise as Tango just watched a snowball hit Impulse in the back of the neck, most of the snowball was ice so he knew who he was supposed to be seeing when he turned around. Impulse was surprised and stumbled with a cough. Etho and Stress were stood by the entrance to the gate, both with heavy snow gear on, they were more prepared for the weather than Impulse sure was but when you’re a demon and have a higher body temperature you don’t need to worry about it as much.

“I said we weren't doing that till after!” Impulse sighed as he leant down to ball up a snowball and pack it together.

“When do things go according to plan Impulse?” Etho replied, with Impulse stuck in a vulnerable position and Tango was completely snowball-less he scrambled to hide behind a column as Impulse was just attacked by a full barrage of ice balls.

“TanGO GET BACK HERE!” Impulse yelled as he was knocked to the floor, wheezing in laughter as he held his stomach. “You gotta- you gotta avenge me.” He croaked.

“Impulse! Impulse no- no you don’t.” The blond crept out and gathered up some snow in his hands as impulse shook his head.

“I’m sorry Tango, they got me, you have to fight this battle now.”

  
“I’m not giving up on you Impulse.” He answered solemnly. “And you’re not going anywhere if there’s anything I can do about it.” He shoved the fist full of snow down Impulse’s sweater and t-shirt.

He could hear the “Ohhh! Betrayal!” that came from Etho and Stress’ direction as Impulse screamed pretty much like a girl there and then as he thrashed on the floor to get it out before springing to his feet to shake the snow out.

“Tango! TAnGO- IT WENT DOWN MY PANTS-” Impulse yelped as he ran off to hide while he sorted himself out. Escaping the laughter that erupted from the trio as they doubled over, Tango had his hands on the floor as Stress leaned against Etho to not fall over.

“I didn’t need to know that!” Tango chortled breathlessly as he tried to breathe normally somewhat but that was difficult, to be honest. He looked up to find Impulse’s heated face as he stared at him, bemusement on his face as the blond fell into a fit of laughter.

“Stop laughing at me!” Impulse replied, trying to hide his red face in his scarf.

“Or what ice pants?” He joked with some effort, there were tears in his eyes as he missed Impulse sweeping a whole windowsill’s worth of snow into his arms.

“I’ll do this.” He dumped the whole lot of snow on Tango, namely his head and face as the laughter stopped for a second before Etho and Stress just started dying in the background. Tango wiped the snow off him as he chuckled too before nodding towards the Ice pair with a smirk, Impulse just gave him a thumbs up with his own nod as he scooped the snow off Tango and packed them into big snowballs. The blond followed suit as he got his own set ready and in sync, the two lobbed their projectiles into their faces.

There was a burst of choked laughter as he heard Stress yell, “That’s it luv’s! It’s on!” And with that the third hermitcraft war began, this time it was snow edition. However, it wasn’t that fair as both their opponents kept aiming at Impulse to get him to scream like a girl again now that they knew his weakness (then again who wouldn’t scream at frigid snow against their skin).

Slowly as the fight warred on more and more hermits stumbled upon them to figure out the commotion, they seemed confused of what was happening before leaping into the fight. Zed was the first to join in with his ugly disgusting yellow and pink Christmas jumper, which clearly was similar to the one wore with a Z on the back instead (Tango knew his fate and what he would be possessing by the end of the night) and made his entry with a laugh as he threw the snowballs over Tango and Impulse, at his distance he was bound to miss and clearly did but his entrance was appreciated. By the time Grian and Ren entered the battle they decided that there should be a truce while everyone built a snow fort and then they should commence.

It ended up being the Zit trio with the aid of Ren who had a red jumper on and a thick black coat, his brown fluffy ears poking out of a bobble hat, tail wagging a mile a minute as he gave his ex resistance member a nod. Wels was hiding nearby, he had a grey jumper and from the appearance of it, it was old and fraying, he had a knitted helmet on top of his brown locks with a red scarf tied around his neck as he was gathering up snowballs to disperse between the team. 

Beside him settling the Area 77 duo, Scar was wearing his old Indiana Jones get up with a Wizard dressing gown on. His boots didn’t even match which was amusing when Tango noticed. Doc was knelt with a blue jumper underneath his torn lab coat and a green scarf around his neck. He was grinning widely as he kept throwing the snowballs that Wels was passing him over to the other fort. Next to Tango was Xisuma, the admin had a wicked smirk on his face, he was wearing his more standard gear but it seemed more like he put his armour over his snowboarding get up with his snowboarding mask and bobble hat over the top. He was glad that the admin was unwinding for once.

Cleo and Joe were in a team of their own and kept throwing snowballs at each other with loud laughs as they wore their matching cyan jumpers. Finally, Hypno was beside Xisuma, with a black jumper and black mask on his face. He was wearing his standard clothes since they were suitable for the cold weather, with just a Christmas hat to top it all off.

It didn’t take long for Tango to cotton on that the whole of the other team was just aiming for Impulse whenever he would get up enough to throw his snowballs at him, the blond ended up dragging him down when he got a faceful of about 20 snowballs and wasn’t surprised when he slipped in the snow and landed on his back.

“I can’t see- I think I’m blind-'' Impulse wheezed from the air knocked out of his lungs as the blond wiped the snow out of his eyes. Tango looked up at the other team and watched the other side all whoop and cheer as they all high fived. He made out Grian’s purple snowman’s jumper and green scarf and Iskall’s hideous green and lime jumper and Mumbo’s red one in the midst of the white.

“You’ve just got snow in your face Impulse, hold still.” He urged as he wiped his face, he was cold to touch and shaking. “Why did you wear shorts in winter man?”

“Because they’re comfortable,” he whined softly. “And I don't own jeans.”

Tango sighed. “You’re stupid.” Impulse laughed wheezily as he flashed him a small smile, his eyes still closed as Tango pulled off his black vest and draped it over him. “You, stay here.”

Xisuma and Wels were looking over at them wearily. “Is he okay?” X piped up. “Should I take him inside?”

Tango looked down at Impulse, “Give him a minute.” he replied as he watched Wels dispense the snowballs and the rest of the team standing up to launch an assault against Iskall when he made the mistake to get up enough to launch a snowball at Tango.

There were several thuds as their projectiles met their home and a final thud as Iskall dived to the floor slightly delayed, there was a soft groan as everyone cheered on their side. Unfortunately, that didn’t let down the fact that there had been a casualty. He placed a hand on Impulse’s shoulder.

“Open your eyes a bit Impulse.” tango urged as his brown eyes fluttered open a bit, they were a bit red and bloodshot with his black veins, the paleness of his usual sunburnt clamour showed his darkened veins more than usual. “How is it?”

Impulse blinked blearily as he focused on Tango. “Jus’ a bit blurry, but I got the usual fuzziness in my sight like I normally do. Everyone wearing different clothes is making it harder to recognise who’s who.” He replied sheepishly. So his shortsightedness and colour blindness probably wasn’t helping the situation.

“Are you going to be okay?” Tango asked as Impulse’s chocolate eyes met his red ones, a small nod on his face as he sat up, tango pulled his vest over Impulse’s arms and chest. “Then just hold on for a minute.”

He registered Xisuma standing up as he yelled. “I’m orderin’ for everyone to firstly stop targettin’ Impulse and two don’t go for the eyes, you could blind someone!” There was a chorus of “sorry’s” and “is Impulse okay?”’s which Xisuma responded with a “yes”. He settled down with a nod at Tango.

Zed hovered nearby after he randomly appeared beside them, “we’ll get revenge for you, mister! No dying on our team allowed!” He grinned widely as he threw snowballs after snowballs at the other side, he did hit the blue jumper of Jevin and Cub responded with his own, a white and red jumper on under his not torn lab coat, unlike Doc’s. The slime just absorbed any snowball that came into contact with him like some cheater, tango noticed and yelled: “Hey- That’s cheating you-”

“-You cheater!” Impulse finished with a smile.

Xisuma eventually intervened again once someone targeted Impulse again for the sake of it with an Ice Ball Deluxe. Tango jumped slightly when there was a yelp and thud next to him and a small “ow.” as Impulse laid sprawled in the snow on his front, face in the snow as he spluttered as he tried to spit out the snow that he accidentally inhaled from his fall.

“Impulse!” Came the concerned voice of Zed, he had been distributing snowballs to Joe and Cleo who just ended up throwing them at him so they had started their own fight.

“This is fine-” He just grumbled straight into the snow, head dropping as he just laid there happily.

“Guys stop!” Xisuma yelled as he got to his feet, the team gathered their snowballs as the other team poked their heads up confusedly. “I thought I said to stop targeting Impulse! Now, why is he laid in the snow after getting hit?”

“Uhhh-” Just came the small response of the other side, bobbing up further as they just sounded like a group of children being chided by their father.

Their admin twitched his fingers a bit and the rest of the team just got to their feet and started launching snowball after snowball at the other team, Wels and Scar had been busy packing them up till they had a satisfactory mound. There were yells from the other team, shamelessly Bdubs shouting. “THAT’S NOT FAIR XISUMA!”

Xisuma just laughed loudly as he high-fived the team once the rest of them were sprawled on the ground. They had won. Tango beamed at the rest of zit. Drowning out the complaints of the other team as they eventually surrendered as to not face another volley of snow in their faces.

“We did it!” Zed yelled ecstatically as he danced, yanking Impulse out of the snow with ease by the hem of his jumper. The brunette’s face was pale, cheeks rosy pink from the cold.

“Nice!” Impulse grinned as he pulled the pair into a hug and just melted into them from their warmth being much higher than his own for once, arms loosely around their shoulders.

“See we avenged you.” Tango laughed as he had to keep a secure arm around impulse so he wouldn’t fall over too much.

“Yes, you did!” Impulse replied.

“C'mon let’s take you inside and get you warmed up.” Zed smiled as he wrapped an arm around his back. “Guys there’s hot chocolate inside!” he told the group and watched the fighting between Ren, Doc, Etho and Bdubs subside as they all immediately perked up. “But only after we get Impy-”

“Impulse.” The owner of which interrupted.

“-inside” Zed continued as if Impulse didn’t say anything as Tango just laughed and the two led him in.

Tango seemed in awe at the interior of the castle, he hadn’t been in at all but his usual decor had been switched out for Christmas, garlands and berries were adorned above every window, a bouquet of leaves and baubles hung heavily as the corridors they walked down were strung up with LEDs on the eaves. They twinkled a faint warm creamy white above them and it looked like they were in some winter wonderland, the windows steamed up and anyone you looked out of had a beautiful sight of tall decorated fir and pine trees that lead off into the distance.

He was mainly following Zed’s queues since he knew where he was going, Impulse did but he didn’t trust his ability to direct them right now. As they stepped into a great hall his breath was taken away. The room that usually housed Bdubs’ throne had been replaced with a great big fire, there was a table adorned with food - he could smell the chicken from here, apple and cinnamon on his tongue as he sighed. In the opposite corner of the table, there was a large Christmas tree adorned with silver and gold tinsel, red and gold baubles littered on pretty much every branch, a star on top as it was lit up by the same warm creamy LEDs.

Under the tree were wrapped boxes that had been neatly packed in the floor space and were piled up to a reasonable amount, some of which were the ones that he recognised at his advent calendar. Did the hermits bring their presents here so they could open them at once? Why was there so much more than those ones too? Either way, he smiled. This was beautiful.

Zed led them to the fire, there were several large sofas around the stone heath, logs and coal loaded up inside, a garland splayed across the top as a couple of stockings hung from the ends. It looked eerily similar. He spun around a bit as he looked up, the ceiling was decorated with the starry map that Bdubs’ had made for stargazers, each individual star on the ceiling was a bright LED that seemed to shimmer softly at him as he looked down to help set Impulse on the thick rug by the fire.

“Impulse, work with me here-” Zed was trying to pull his jumper off but he was protesting too much.

“But there’s a fire!”

“Yes, there’s a fire Impulse.” Tango chuckled as he got his hands on Impulse’s shoulders to get him to stop squirming, which the man did and just sat there. "Glad you're as perceptive as always."

“Just let us get the soggy jumper off,” Zed added, smiling weakly at him.

“Fine.” Impulse sighed as Zed pulled off tango’s vest and Impulse’s jumper and placed them near the fire to dry. Tango got a blanket off a sofa and wrapped it around Impulse, laughing at him when he pouted.

“We don’t want you to get hypothermia now do we!” Tango replied as the others were entering the room, the familiar chatter that he hadn’t heard in so long returned and he felt like he was at home.

Hermitcraft was his home, and all these people were his family. It felt like ages since they were all together as a group, as friends and as one, he didn’t count the wars recently as they didn’t bring everyone together and just caused more trouble and carnage than he was used to. But this was what he lived for, everyone laughing and smiling around him, everyone having a good time and everyone being there. This was Hermitcraft. Hermitcraft was being together. Inclusion and diversity. Happiness and standing together through everything.

The blond removed his soggy snow-soaked jumper and placed it near the fire alongside his wet ruined slippers and scarf. He was slightly sad that his bunnies were covered in grass stains and all squelchy from water but it had been worth it.

Tango looked up when he found Xisuma standing in front of him, he looked back over his shoulder at Zed who had an impulse sprawled on his lap. Their admin was minus his armour and snowboarding jacket and was just in a stripy yellow and black jumper that said ‘Bee merry’ on it in white, black jeans slightly rolled up as he smiled at him, his helmet under his arm as his blue eyes met Tango’s red as he knelt down.

“We all wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done this season, and every season.” He started, his hand on Tango’s shoulder. “You’ve done so much and put so much effort into everything you’ve done. And you’ve done it with a smile and a laugh. Thank you, Tango. Without you non of this would be possible.”

“I- I don’t- I don’t understand-” He spluttered, face slightly red as he noticed everyone's’ eyes were on him, in turn, he met them as their gaze softened as they smiled encouragingly. “I’m not as helpful as Impulse, not as good at redstone as you or doc, I'm not as good at building as Bdubs or Grian. I can’t landscape like scar can. I’m-”

“Tango.” Xisuma cut him off firmly as his brows furrowed. “Everyone is good and valued in their own ways, just because you aren’t as good as something as someone else that doesn’t take away your value.” He comforted as he rubbed his shoulder with a strong hand. “I don’t know anyone else who would think to make an iron farm with drowned's, or with ravergers, or someone who is as creative as making games as you. A game where you build a deck of cards while being chased by ravagers? A game where you have to collect items and try to blow up another team’s base to get blocks while protecting their own? Those are on you Tango.” 

The blond felt tears in his eyes as he tried to blink them away blearily as Xisuma continued. “A base that literally captures the essence of cartoons? Unbelievable.” Tango opened his mouth to object as he closed it, the admin’s gaze softened as he smiled proudly at him. “This server would be a whole lot boring without you Tango, you’re so hardworking and creative, so charismatically amusing and endearing. You just look down on yourself and work yourself too hard sometimes.”

Something warm trickled down his cheeks and dropped onto his lap as Xisuma met his eyes warmly before pulling him into a hug. “I’m proud of you Tango.” He added quietly as tango hugged him tightly, his head on his shoulder as he teared up happily. Their admin was proud of him?  
  
“No one told me this was going to be a hug party-” Impulse croaked up as he shuffled towards them and pulled them into a fierce hug.

Zed rushed after him and threw his arms around the trio with a laugh as everyone began joining in. No this was what Hermitcraft was about. Acceptance and unapologetic love. Working together as a group and leaving no one behind. Being there to pick each other up and supporting everyone. They were a unit. Season 7 wasn’t just their home, their home was wherever they were.

They eventually broke away until it was just Impulse and Zed holding him in a close embrace by the fire. Everyone went back to their own business as the trio held each other while Tango shook as the silent tears trickled down his face. The soft voices of the two taller of the three in his ears. 

“You’re important Tango.”

“We value you so so much!”

His smile met his eyes as he closed his eyes, hands tightly gathering the material of their shirts under his knuckles as Impulse rubbed his back as Zed wiped his tears from the other blond’s eyes.

Tango looked up, Xisuma was talking to Bdubs and Keralis, pints of alcohol in their hands as they laughed and joked by the exit, the admin was leant against the doorway as he smiled between the two as Bdubs beamed widely as he tried to imitate Keralis with his wide eyes. The Swede chortled a laugh as he pushed him away with a hand on the side of his head and watched the other go stumbling, his drink sloshing as X laughed loudly at him.

Cleo, False, Stress and Joe were on one of the sofa’s, Joe was talking about some story assumedly as his hands were very animated, their zombie companion kept interjecting quietly to some of his points and False and Stress would just chuckle as Joe sent her a death look. Cleo would mime the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture at him and the poet would just continue as if nothing had happened while False and Stress were in stitches on the floor.

Etho, Doc, Beef were sprawled on another sofa, joking about the old days of the NHO while Etho kept lightheartedly jabbing Doc in the ribs to wind the creeper hybrid up as, Jevin, Hypno and xB sat on the floor near the foot of the furniture, laughing on to their stories as they ate their food stolen from the buffet table.

The rest of the resistance was by the Christmas tree, amongst others from HEP as they playfully made fun at each other, Grian and Ren were stood with Scar, Cub, Iskall and Mumbo as Grian and Scar were trying to guess what was in the presents but every single guess was about as far from the truth as they could make it. Jellie was curled around Scar’s shoulders as he laughed, purring as Cub stroked her grey and white splotched fur as she nuzzled her face into his hand. Ren was chuckling as he sipped his beverage as he kept making jokes about the HEP as Iskall and Mumbo kept daring Grian to steal the doors. Professor Beak was nestled on his shoulder, pecking at his sandy blond hair as he spoke.

Wels and TFC were speaking in the middle of the room, the knight had his arms across his chest, a wide smile on his face as the TFC was telling him embarrassing stories of the hermits in the earlier seasons.

The room seemed to freeze when a familiar but old face entered the room, red sweater and armour pulled on, white hair pulled into a messy bun, there was a box under his arm as he had a tight hand on his companion’s darker jacket.

“EX?” The room chorused as the void walker sighed as Hels tried to tangle himself from his hands. Everyone stared at him as Tango raised an eyebrow.

Evil Xisuma was sheepish to be here but when his brother pulled away from Bdubs and Keralis behind him and smiled at him he relaxed. “It’s good to see you Exy.” He pulled him into a hug with a protest from Ex as he let go of Hels for a second and the knight managed to break free.

“Yeah, it’s awful to see you too. Look you told me that I could come if I wanted and I did, I had to bring Hels because I can’t leave him alone, he’d burn the server down without supervision.” Ex explained once Xisuma pulled away and seemed to fidget as he watched Hels go to start a fight with Wels but was stopped by Grian and he seemed to freeze and blink at him.

“What the hell is that-”

“It’s a parrot!” Grian replied cheerfully as he dragged Hels to the group at the tree.

“EX HELP ME AT ONCE YOU _FOOL_.”

“Bye Hels!” Ex waved as he chuckled, looking over at his older brother to see him laughing too as he offered him a drink.

“What did you bring?”

“Some cookies! They’re my recipe. I brought them so Stress could try them, she’s been teaching me how to bake a lot this year-”

Tango scoffed as he shook his head, in midst of the chaos Zed had vanished and left Impulse curled up against him, the blond ran his hand through Impulse’s hair and listened to the male purr as he sprawled on him, the blanket wrapped around the pair. The blond returned with some presents in his hands.

“These are for you!” Zed smiled as Impulse removed himself from the hug to sit closer to the fire and in front of Tango as Zed pressed one into his hands, assumedly it was Impulse’s present to him.

“I haven’t got anyone anything- I didn’t even know this was happening-” Tango rambled nervously, oh god he was awful.

“Don’t be silly! We’re doing this for you, plus you gave us those presents during the month, and besides the best present we could get this year is you Tango!” Zed exclaimed as he handed him a messily wrapped present. The tag on it read “To Tango! Merry Christmas Love Zed :))” and he smiled as he opened it up.

He had seen this coming and laughed as he pulled out a red and black Christmas jumper, it had a large T on the back and he wondered why. It felt so soft and warm in his hands and he looked up at Zed with tears in his eyes. He held it in one hand as he wrapped an arm around the taller blond.

“Thank you, Zed!” Tango pulled away.

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you like it.” He smiled widely as Tango pulled the jumper on over his t-shirt, it was long on the sleeves and he rolled them up a bit as he looked up to see the small but happy smile of Impulse meet his own.

“I think you would like this.” He passed him his present, his wrapping was neater but his writing was not. He made out the “Merry Xmas Tango! Love from Impy Dimple Dot” Tango scoffed from the nickname.

“Did Skizz make you write that?” He laughed.

“No, he didn’t!” Impulse outburst with a chuckle. “I did that myself.” He added.

Tango ripped open the parcel and almost cried from what he saw. “No, you didn’t.” He beamed as he picked up a new pair of bunny slippers, they were cream and soft, their eyes looked eerily similar to Grian’s which made him laugh as he slipped them on his feet. “They are perfect!” He grinned as he pulled Impulse into a hug and laughed when the brunette seemed frozen for a second. “Thank you!”

“I felt guilty that I would end up ruining them today so I got you some new ones to replace them.” He explained. “But you’re welcome, I’m glad you like them.” He grinned as he pulled away. He seemed relieved at least.

“Let’s go get some food! I’m starvin.” Zed outburst as he got to his feet and dragged them to the buffet table.

Tango felt his mouth salivating from the amount of good food out in front of him, damn it was clear everyone had chipped in to this. Stress and Ex stood near the table while Stress was eating his cookies. A proud happy smile on his face that he didn’t see often. It was scary how similar Ex and X looked, they both had the same worn, tired face and a crooked smile. Ex had a slightly crooked nose, both had a mismatch of scars coating their skin. X was littered in moles while Ex was coated in freckles. X was hovering nearby, his face already flushed red from drinking as he met the trio’s eyes.

“I’d say be careful, Ren and Bdubs are going around with the mistletoe.” He warned with a warm laugh as he stepped away from the table. “Also the fruit punch was spiked.” The admin added. That explained it. “It was _supposed_ to be a plain old fruit punch and I like fruit but god that backfired hard. It was probably Doc and Etho.” He added as he rambled a bit.

“Shishwammy!” Keralis called as he wandered over. “Bubbles keeps chasing me with his googly eyes!” The Swede complained as Xisuma chuckled. “I’m being serious!” He pointed at Bdubs who was bothering Hels. Sure enough, he had some massive googly eyes in hand and Tango almost lost it laughing.

“Now that we know that the fruit punch is spiked with presumably vodka? Should we stay away from it?” Impulse asked rhetorically.

“Nope.” Zed and Tango replied in sync as the trio laughed and went to grab their food and a healthy glass each.

* * *

By the time the whole group had been aware of the situation, it was way too late and everyone was just hammered drunk, the only one who was somewhat sober was Doc and Etho who had their communicators out for blackmail gathering purposes. It was later at night, everyone was tired but most were still not ready to sleep and had finished eating and opening their presents. They all say sprawled on different furniture around the fire as they were talking about stories of previous seasons and were laughing loudly.

Tango was explaining when he, X and Mumbo had summoned Impulse into Season 3, Impulse was asleep in his and Zed’s laps. He had drunk way too much and passed out on top of them.

“So cause He’s a demon-”

“Impulse is a demON?” Hels called as Wels shushed him loudly with a light smack in the face. “Oh screw off Wels you tit!”

“He’s a demon.” Tango continued. “And we needed help on a witch farm so I told X and Mumbo who were working on the project like ‘Ey up X can we casually paint a satanic circle in season 3 and summon a demon’ and Xisuma was all like ‘hell yeah man lets do this’ so we did and I kid you not- I kid you not that Impulse just jumped me and was like ‘what the hell disease did you get this time-’ and we started crying-”

“Sounds romantic.” Bdubs had his head in his hands. He had spent most of the evening chasing after Impulse shouting for a kiss under the mistletoe and Impulse kept running from him yelling he didn’t want his kisses.

“-then we started shouting and then we started kissing and making out,” Tango replied deadpan.

“oH, I don’t remember that!” Xisuma laughed loudly. “Is that how you met Zedaph too?”

“yES!” Zed chortled in loudly. “Impulse broke into my house for some food once and Tango was just watching outside and I was so confused as to why this guy and his feral man was breaking and entering until Impulse started yelling ‘TANgO WHErE ARE YOU’ I knew tango was outside so I just stood with him as Impulse was doing his thing.”

“So you befriended them because a demon was in your house voluntarily.”

“Yup.” Zed and Tango laughed at the memory.

“Then you kissed and made out?” Ren asked jokingly.

  
“Yup,” Tango clapped him on the back as he added. “That’s the only way the best friendships are formed.”

“AhA, that's why we were kissing everyone earlier! Because we knew!” Bdubs shouted as he nudged Ren who nodded enthusiastically.

“I knew we were cottoning on baby!” Ren replied.

The room slowly went quiet as the group slowly fell more to sleep till there were a few of them awake, Tango looked between the Bdubs, Etho, Doc, Zed and Grian. As he smiled. They were playing a quiet game of truth or dare between them as their quiet chuckles melded into one.

“Thank you guys and Merry Christmas.” He thanked as Zed had been dared to sing ‘never going to give you up’ to the room, surprisingly no one stirred except for Ex who threw a cushion at him angrily.

“Merry Christmas to you Tango!” They chorused with a joint laugh.

* * *

Tango groaned when he stirred, the light on his face was blinding and stung his eyes as he moved an arm to cover them, his eyes weren’t even open and all he could see was red. There was a pressure on his stomach and legs as he could hear loud snoring, he at least recognised who it was based on the breathing pattern and the lack of feeling in his legs. That meant by the process of elimination Zed was curled into his side as some tangled mess of limbs as he let out a long sigh.

His head pounded a bit but he didn’t really notice it as it settled in as his usual headache so it wasn’t that bad, to be frank. After all the drinking last night he assumed some of them would be more hungover, namelessly the one who had caused his legs to not work anymore. Thanks Impulse.

The blond managed to open his eyes and found blankets were draped over them from their position of laying on the rug by the fire, he could hear the distant purring of Impulse as he dozed, his mouth slightly open as he drooled on the wool. Zed occupied the space beside him, he was the furthest from the fire and was just hugging Impulse’s arms to keep himself warm. Tango was able to suppress the weak chuckle that tumbled from his mouth as he beamed warmly.

Someone cleared their throat as Tango looked up at the noise and found Etho waving at him casually. “Mornin, how you doin’?” He asked, his snowy hair was an absolute mess and was sticking up in every direction more or less, his eyes had the same usual tired but good-natured amusement to them.

“Pretty good. Why?” He asked suspiciously as Etho raised an eyebrow.

“Oh just some people are feeling the alcohol this morning but you seem alright.” He shrugged, Doc was laid on him and he had his hand in the man’s brown hair. “Surprised that's all.”

“I don’t get drunk as easily as some people.” He replied. “I only got a bit buzzed last night. Unlike these two.” He smirked as he pointed a thumb at Zed then Impulse.

“Ohohoho yeah. They’re gonna feel it when they wake up.” Etho laughed. “We may have done this party for Christmas but we didn’t have plans to deal with anyone who got a bit too _blasted_ ,” Etho added.

“I can deal with them, don’t worry,” Tango replied bemusedly as he sat up and let the pair just slumber on the floor in some pile.

This was Hermitcraft, totally. Having the best time with all of his family around him, dozing with his friends in his arms and with everyone around him. And Hermitcraft was also cleaning up someone else’s doing and moving on with your lives. They had to clean up the shopping district now he had to clean up his friends because someone (Etho) got them too drunk to function. Thanks Etho.

He wouldn’t change it for the world.

Tango adventured off to go find some painkillers and a bucket or two, he looked back at the scene with a fond smile. He had missed this, missed all of this. Good thing they gave him an excuse not to leave them alone for several hours.

**Author's Note:**

> So the makeout conversation was inspired by this: https://www.twitch.tv/tangotek/clip/CharmingKindSpindleAMPTropPunch?filter=clips&range=all&sort=time  
> and I haven't existed since. If you want to assume that ZIT is together in this fic then be my guest but I've wrote it as Bromance platonic banter.
> 
> any and all zit interactions are heavily inspired by their Streams in America and I would heavily recommend watching them if you haven't. They have blessed me with so much entertainment.  
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8MwbtN39CA3X0i8LcTZtWctrOXXPh_-g  
> It also has the among us streams so be warned


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